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Alex Praglowski posted this YouTube video about 54 year-old Air Canada Fin #719, registration C-FTLT, which is currently preserved at Thunder Bay, Ontario at The Aviation Centre of Excellence for use as an instructional airframe. |
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Rob Hemmett, retired Avionics Technichian, Vancouver, adds the following: I went to Mojave from Vancouver to service and do a return to service check on this aircraft and bring it out of storage so it could be returned to Canada for a new paint job and then delivered to Confederation College. I remember there was a big rush to get this airplane back to Canada to get the new paint job and be ready for a presentation to the college for a planned date. At departure the standby inverter failed... a 'No Go' item...I had to drive several miles to the other side of the airport to rob a standby inverter from another Air Canada parked airplane in the field of dreams. In Mojave there is a snake called the Mojave Greenback. Extremely dangerous, they liked to hide in the black tarps that were wrapped around the nose gear wheels. I drove down the line of parked DC-9's until I found one the tarp had blown off. The standby inverter is accessed by opening the nose gear doors and then opening a pressure door into the Avionics compartment. The biggest fear was reaching blind into the wheel well to unlatch the nose gear doors and not feeling a snake. I hope someone can save this magnificent airplane; it was a fully serviceable airplane when it left Mojave. |
